Events

TV Schedule

Poisoning Your Pooch With Pills

There are a lot of things that can harm your pet, i.e. locking them up in a hot car or letting them run into traffic — but the one biggie that few people think about is medication. Your medication.

A new study shows more pets were harmed by human medication than all the other things that are pet-unfriendly. In fact, dropped or “left out” pills were No. 1 for the third year in a row on the ASPCA’s list of top ten toxins to pets.

Here are the Top 3:

– ibuprofen
– acetaminophen
– anti-depressant medications.

Close behind were meds for A.D.D. such as Ritalin.

Now this doesn’t mean you need to freak out if your dog or cat is caught chomping down one of your pills — things like birth control pills, for example, aren’t that dangerous. But experts say most of the time you never catch your pet in the act. Often, your puppy is pooped, lethargic, confused, and so forth, and you really have no idea as to the reason why.

Your best resource in that case is your vet. And your vet is your best resource if you catch your four-legged friend in the act. If you get desperate and can’t get a hold of your vet, you can call the ASPCA at (888) 426-4435. (heads-up, though- its $65 a phone call.)

One more thing, you’ve probably heard chocolate is a bad thing for dogs — it’s true. One ounce of milk chocolate per pound (of your dog’s weight) is deadly; with deep, dark chocolate, as little as a quarter of an ounce can cause a problem.

One Comment

Deaths from medical errors: Medical errors are another leading cause of death that is not often analyzed. Bearing in mind that about 2.5 million deaths occur annually in the USA, here are some of the death rate estimates from various reports:

•44,000 to 98,000 deaths annually from medical errors (Institute of Medicine)
•225,000 deaths annually from medical errors including 106,000 deaths due to “nonerror adverse events of medications” (Starfield)
•180,000 deaths annually from medication errors and adverse reactions (Holland)
•20,000 annually to 88,000 deaths annually from nosocomial infections
•7,391 deaths resulted from medication errors (Institute of Medicine)
Although many such deaths are “non-error” adverse reactions, and hence non-preventable, the numbers of deaths are nevertheless high. Even the lower estimates of 44,000 to 98,000 deaths would put them into the top ten causes of death, and the highest number of 225,000 would put them third on the top ten list only after heart disease and cancer.